Hellfire (Eddie Munson x OC Stranger Things Fanfiction)

Chapter 5: Boathouse Blues

I feel like these guys know something I don't. First of all, why are they looking for Eddie? Do they believe he killed Chrissy, or are they trying to prove his innocence?

Secondly, how do they even know about Chrissy, or that Eddie has even gone missing in the first place? I need answers and I need them now.

"Hey, Dustin, why are you looking for Eddie?" I ask, slouching more in my seat as we drive to Rick's.

"You've seen the news, right? They're saying a Hawkins High student was killed in Eddie's trailer park. Max here saw Eddie go into his trailer with Chrissy last night, then 10 minutes later saw him run out and drive away, without Chrissy. Now they're saying that on the news, we know it has something to do with Eddie," Dustin explains and I can't help but feel a pang in my chest.

"Yeah, but that still doesn't explain why you're looking for him?"

"We'll explain when we find him since you're now a part of this, thanks to Eddie."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Steve suddenly stops the car, turning to Dustin and I. He motions for us to get out, not even uttering a word, seemingly sick of our shit. Fortunately, he isn't trying to make us walk the rest of the way.

I slide out of Steve's car and look up at the house infront of me. Man, some drug dealers really do pull in a lot of dough. I'd give my left arm to have a place like this. Away from the people.

"Hey, Eddie! I'm here. I brought Dustin, Steve, Robin and Max with me!" I yell, banging on the door.

"Eddie! It's Dustin! Look, we just wanna talk, okay? No cops, I swear. We just wanna help. Eddie!" Dustin shouts, joining me in banging on the door.

"He's not there," Steve tells us both, exasperation clearly evident in his voice.

"Is that a foot?"

"No, it's a shoe."

"Hey guys!" I  hear Max say and notice her aiming her torch at something next to the house. We all run over to see what she's looking at and notice a boathouse. The doorway light on. Seriously, Eddie? You're supposed to be hiding. Don't have a beacon.

We slowly make our way over to the boathouse, shining our lights through the windows. I don't see anyone and I figure nobody else can either.

"Hello?" Robin asks as she opens the door. We follow suit. "Is anyone home?"

"What a dump," Steve says, shining his torch around the boathouse. I see his eyes land on an oar before he starts making his way over to it.

"Don't you dare Harrington," I whisper, staring daggers at Steve. He ignores me and picks up the oar, turning towards the tarp. "Steve, I swear to god, I will grab that thing from you and whack you over the head with it."

Still ignoring me, Steve begins to, not gently tap the tarp, but whack it with the oar.

"What are you doing?" Dustin asks. "What are you doing?"

"He might be in here," Steve answers, giving the tarp another whack.

"So take the tarp off."

"If you're both so brave, you take the tarp off."

Honestly, he has us there. There's no way I'm lifting that tarp. I look to Dustin and see him thinking the same. Steve continues being Steve and whacks the tarp, again.

"Hey, look over here," I hear Max say, shining my torch over to her. "Someone was here."

"Maybe he heard us. Got spooked and ran," Robin offers.

"Don't worry. Steve will get him with his oar," I hear Dustin sarcastically say, all the while Steve continues hitting the tarp.

"I know you think you're being funny, but considering everyone in this room, except Melissa, has nearly died a hundred times, personally, I don't find it funny in the slight-" Steve says, before he's thrown against the wall of the boathouse, broken bottle to his neck. "Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait!"

I feel my heart racing as I notice its Eddie. Completely disregarding the fact he has a sharp object pointed at Steve's neck.

"Eddie! Eddie! Stop!" Dustin shouts, trying to get through to the broken man in front of us. He looks even worse than he did last night. "Eddie! It's me. It's Dustin. This is Steve. He's not gonna hurt you, right, Steve?"

"Right. Yeah." Steve whispers, barely audible to my ears.

"Steve, why don't you drop the oar?"

Steve drops the oar, making a loud thump, startling Eddie. Making him press the broken bottle further into Steve's neck.

"He's cool. He's cool."

"I'm cool, man. I'm cool."

"What are you doing here?" Eddie finally speaks.

"We're looking for you," Dustin answers.

"We're here to help," Robin interjects.

"Eddie, these are my friends. You know Robin, from band. This is my friend Max. The one who never wants to play D&D. And you know Melissa, she's the one who told us where you were," Dustin tells Eddie. Thanks Dusty, just blame me. It's cool. "Eddie. We're on your side. I swear on my mother. Right, guys?"

"Yes, yes. We swear."

"On Dustin's mother."

"Yeah, Dustin's...Dustin's mother."

I instinctively hold my breath as everything we said seems to go over in Eddie's mind.

Suddenly, he let's Steve go and slumps down onto a crate, back against the wall. He looks defeated.

I rush to his side along with Dustin and reach for his hand. Eddie flinches away and moves his hand away from mine.

His eyes look sunken from the dark bags under his eyes that stare blankly. He looks broken from the horror he's witnessed. There's no way he did this.

"Eddie...we just want to talk. Okay?" Dustin says.

"We want to know what happened," Robin says as she joins us.

"You won't believe me," Eddie says with a sniff.

"Try us."